04 December 2019

ECB will directly supervise 117 banks in 2020

The number of banks that will be directly supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB) from 1 January 2020 has decreased to 117 from 119 a year earlier following the annual review of significance and ad hoc assessments. The changes are the result of new group structures, a licence withdrawal, business relocations in view of Brexit, regulatory changes and other developments.

While the number of significant institutions has fallen, banks directly supervised by the ECB are generally becoming larger and more complex as banking groups consolidate or relocate activities from the United Kingdom to the euro area.

One bank, Akcinė bendrovė Šiaulių bankas, was classified as significant after it became the third largest credit institution in Lithuania. The ECB will directly supervise the bank from 1 January 2020.

Owing to Brexit, four banks were expected to significantly increase their business activities and were therefore placed under the ECB’s direct supervision: UBS Europe SE, J.P. Morgan AG, Morgan Stanley Europe Holding SE and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE.

A new banking group led by Cassa Centrale Banca - Credito Cooperativo Italiano S.p.A. was classified as significant because its assets exceeded €30 billion. The group was formed after a law was introduced in Italy on the consolidation of cooperative banks.

The ECB also took over the supervision of AS “PNB Banka” at the request of the Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission. The ECB later declared the bank “failing or likely to fail”.

Meanwhile, nine banks were removed from the list of ECB supervised banks. Of these, five became branches of significant institutions and were thus removed from the list while still being supervised as part of the group: Luminor Bank AB, Luminor Bank AS and branches of Barclays Bank plc in Germany, France and Italy. The ECB stopped directly supervising three banks following an amendment of the Capital Requirements Directive that excluded development banks from the ECB’s supervisory remit: Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg-Förderbank, Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank and NRW.BANK. Another bank, ABLV Bank Luxembourg, S.A., had its licence withdrawn.

Full press release on ECB

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